Employees receive Pulse Awards for 2021
Every year Serco hosts a ceremony for the Pulse Awards, which have four categories that represent Serco’s values: Care, Trust, Pride and Innovation.
Pulse Awards are awarded to Serco employees for going above and beyond in their day-to-day working lives. Individual Serco employees are nominated for Pulse Awards by colleagues and these nominations in turn are sifted through by a select panel from each of the five UK business units.
This year employees from three Serco managed prisons, HMP Doncaster, HMP Dovegate, HMP Kilmarnock, and from the Prisoner Escorting and Court Services contract (PECS) all won Awards.
Heath Chapple, MD for the Serco Justice and Immigration business unit gave his thoughts on the Pulse Awards and their significance to employees.
“The Serco Pulse Awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase the superhuman efforts of our staff who work in some of most challenging environments you can imagine, particularly during the Covid pandemic, which has had a huge impact on the prisoners that we look after in prisons and on the PECS contract.”
HMP Doncaster
Gordon Sowerby Together Forces Coordinator, HMP & YOI Doncaste: Trust Award
Gordon does an exceptional job working with the veteran prisoners at HMP Doncaster. His care and support radically changed the life of a man recently released from prison, enabling him to rebuild a relationship with his family and setting him up for a life that his mother was unsure her son would be able to enjoy again.
Teresa Bruce
Head of Learning and Skills, HMP & YOI Doncaster: Trust Award
Teresa’s support was above and beyond when a colleague’s partner was reported missing with no news for five weeks. In and out of working hours, Teresa made herself available to listen and talk. When some very sad news came, Teresa was there with her unconditional support. Her colleague said Teresa’s ‘normality’ helped keep her going and offered her strength during a distressing time.
Market Street Creators HMP & YOI Doncaster: Innovation Award
What was once an ordinary corridor at the prison has been transformed by colleagues and prisoners into Market Street - a row of workrooms that promote learning and offer items for sale that have been made at the prison. This real-life working environment has been instrumental in changing perspectives on employment opportunities and on how education can support reducing reoffending.
Shannon Batt
Forensic Psychologist in Training, HMP & YOI Doncaster: Care Award
Shannon wanted to help prisoners who were repeatedly self-harming. Demonstrating tremendous
care, she set about developing a toolkit called ‘Break the Cycle’. It was designed to encourage
participants to develop skills in managing their problems in a less harmful way. Shannon’s work has
made a positive difference to a great many prisoners in our care.
HMP Dovegate
Lauren Howell
Prisoner Custody Officer, HMP Dovegate: Trust Award
Driving into work one morning, Lauren passed a woman on a bridge looking extremely distressed. Worried for her safety, Lauren immediately called 999, and went to speak to her. Using the negotiation skills learned in her role, Lauren held her safe against the railings all the while persuading her to bring her leg back over the railings, keeping her safe until the emergency services arrived.
Hayley Peek
Senior Health & Social Care Business Partner, Custodial: Innovation Award
Dispensing medication to prisoners had become a lengthy process, with the potential to cause unrest
in the prison. Hayley devised a radical technical solution to speed up the process by introducing
Medication Dispensing Lockers. Her innovative idea has reduced dispensing times, saving colleagues
around 45 minutes a day, and allowing prisoners to spend more time on purposeful activity.
HMP Kilmarnock
Joshua Raeburn
Prisoner Custody Officer, HMP Kilmarnock: Care Award
When prisoners’ health was affected due to spending more time in their cells during the pandemic, Josh created distraction packs to keep them occupied and introduced fitness programmes within cells. He also set up a Facebook page for colleagues with access to training schedules, encouraging videos and fundraisers. Thanks to Josh, significant benefits have been seen across HMP Kilmarnock for everyone.
Prisoner Escort Services Courts and Sites (PECS)
Donna Smith & Andy Minter
Prisoner Custody Officers, Prisoner Escort and Custody Services: Care Award
Donna and Andy worked together, acting quickly and with composure to rescue a girl who had tried to take her own life in a hospital toilet. The swift response from Donna and Andy demonstrates their care and concern which saved the life of a vulnerable individual.